Was Caterina Fake involved in any way with Yahoo Pipes? I believe she headed Yahoo Brickhouse at the time, but the timelines are foggy for me. Pipes is so unlike any Yahoo product.
Pipes preceded Brickhouse and Caterina Fake's involvement. Brickhouse was the first step in encrusting the Pipes project in enough layers of management to ensure it would die.
If I recall correctly Pipes was originally a 100%-Sunnyvale product, predating Brickhouse.